


Home Is a Person, Not a Place

by oh_heccity



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: All deviants live tbh, Angst, Connor deviates earlier, Connor grows on Jericho, Daniel (Detroit: Become Human) lives, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), F/F, Gun Violence, Hurt Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Hurt/Comfort, Jericho is kinda mean in the beginning, Kinda, M/M, No Beta, No Smut, No kara in this fic, Protective Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Protective Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Role Reversal, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-07-02 15:20:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15799230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oh_heccity/pseuds/oh_heccity
Summary: In retrospect Connor knew that 'stealing' Alice away from a drug bust in her own home was a bad idea but what was he supposed to do? Say no?---Or Connor takes Alice away from her horrible home and cares for her as his own daughter as they make their way through Jericho and trying to fit in despite being runaways and Connor being the former Deviant Hunter





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Dbh fanfiction (there is going to be more in the future no doubt) so I apologize if I get how the character acts wrong! Especially Alice's ^^'
> 
> Trigger warnings -  
> \- swearing  
> \- mentions of drug use

In retrospect Connor knew that stealing Alice from her home and more importantly from a  _ crime scene  _ over her father selling and taking red ice on a daily was a bad idea. A very bad idea in fact. But Connor felt something press into his heart; becoming a deviant all those months ago really messed up his emotions, it was odd how he managed to stay undercover without Lieutenant Anderson or anyone from the DPD found out that the android that was  _ made _ to catch deviants was a deviant himself. 

“Excuse me? Mr. Detective?” A timid voice broke Connor out of his thoughts. “What’s gonna happen to my dad?”

Connor sighed a little bit before bending down to look Alice in the eyes. “He’s going to go jail sweetheart,” Connor said softly, his eyes trailing down to the large stuffed fox she had in her arms. “What’s your fox’s name?”

Alice looked a little shy about the question, “Her name is Lila, my mom gave her to me before she left dad,” 

Connor smiled again, grabbing Lila’s stuffed arm and shook it. “Well Lila, it’s nice to meet you, it’s lovely to meet you too Alice, my name is Connor.”

Alice smiled brightly making Connor smile as well but that quickly fell apart when Alice asked the question that Connor had been fearing throughout this drug bust. “Connor? What’s going to happen to me?”

“I’m not sure sweetheart, I would of love to take you as my own but I’m an android,”

“Why can’t you?” Alice asked with so much innocence filling her voice making Connors bio compartment break. “My dad wasn’t a good person but I really trust you, why can’t we just run away?”

“I don’t recommend running away with me Alice. If someone found out that you’re running away with me, you might get in a lot of trouble.”

“Please Connor, I don’t want to leave here. I-I’m scared to be alone and-and I really do trust you.” Alice buried her face in Lila’s head before Connor brought her into a hug. 

“Alright, stick with me and follow what I say okay?” Connor said softly and grabbed her hand when Alice nodded. “Lieutenant? I’m going to interview Ms. Williams about how long this has been going on.”

“Why can’t you do it at the station?” The Lieutenant said gruffly making Alice flinch. Connor hoped that she was just a good actor but he knew that Alice was scared.

“In all do respect Lieutenant I do not think being in a more stressful area will help finding information.” Connor said with no emotion, god he honestly couldn’t wait to run away with Alice. 

Lieutenant just waved his hand showing the two that they should leave. “Fine but tell me what you find when you return and don’t take long! The social workers are here for the kid, they say they’re on a time crunch.”

Connor swallowed thickly before nodding, “Yes Lieutenant, it shouldn’t take me long. Come along now Ms. Williams.” Alice nodded and ran ahead up the stairs and Connor following along, making sure that no one was following them. 

“Connor where are we going to go? If you’re an android people will know and they might think that you stole me.” Alice said timidly and Connor brandished a knife and pressed it to his temple. 

“Don’t worry Alice, my LED is removable and there will be no trackers considering I’m a deviant. Please pack up a bag or two so that you can carry your items. I’m not sure how long it’ll take before we find a home or at least a place to stay for a while. Don’t forget Lila.” 

Alice nodded and grabbed a few backpacks from her closet before stuffing clothes into them, Connor will fix it later when they find a place to stay. “Will it hurt you?”

Connor smiled and took a deep breath, quickly ripping it off and throwing it on the dresser. “No, it doesn’t hurt, it’s only like ripping off a band-aid. We should probably get food soon,” He muttered to himself.

“You’re really brave Connor,” Alice said softly as Connor took one of the larger bags and swung it over his shoulder. 

“You are too, now do you have everything?” Connor asked, looking down at the CyberLife suit, a dead give away that he was an android.” 

“Yep! Do you need clothes?” Alice asked making Connor smile, she really was observant. “Of course you do! Here, I should have an old jacket the my dad use to wear, it might be a little big on you and here's a t-shirt!” 

Stripping off his CyberLife jacket and white dress shirt that he wore, his dark jeans be fine- right? A lot of people wore dark jeans- right? “You ready?”

Alice nodded and grabbed Connor’s hand, “Lila is in the backpack so keep her safe!”

“Of course Alice, now we might have to go through the window.” Connor said, leading her through the window, scanning the area for any officers. “Let’s go sweetheart; remember stay quiet. You’ll have to act like a spy, can you do that for me?”

Alice nodded eagerly about being called a spy and she gripped Connor’s hand a little tighter, she would be brave for him, after all, he’s taking a big risk to keep her safe. They just had to make to the bus stop a few houses away. 

They stayed like that for a moment before an opening showed up and they made a dash for it. If Connor couldn’t make it, he would at least make sure that Alice could be safe. 

**\---**

“Sir you and your child have to get off now, we’re at the end of the line.” The bus driver shook Connor’s arm making him startle awake, when had he fallen asleep?

“C-Can’t we stay here? W-We don’t have a place to stay. My d-daughter needs a place to stay.” Connor stuttered, how could he call Alice his daughter? She probably didn’t feel the same way.

“I’m sorry sir but there is a motel a block from here.” The bus driver replied and Connor could only nod as he picked up Alice, he would let her sleep for a little 

Stepping out of the bus thunder clapped up above making Connor flinch as he hurriedly wrapped his jacket around Alice. “Alice? You need to wake up we need to find a place to stay,"

Alice only hummed in response as she opened her eyes. “I’m cold Con, where are we going to stay?”

“There’s a motel but I don’t trust that-” Connor trailed off leaving the conversation at that. “There’s an abandoned building just across from the motel that we could stay at, do you want me to buy you a blanket or did you pack one?”

“I brought one but won’t you be cold?” Alice asked as she wiggled out of Connor’s arms so she could walk herself. “You gave me your jacket!” Ah, so she finally noticed the beige jacket that was practically engulfing 

“I’ll be fine Alice, let's just get inside so you could get some rest.” Connor scooped her up again, it would be hard for her to climb over the fence. “Lila will keep you safe 

Alice giggled making Connor’s heart melt; it was the first sign of happiness that he had ever seen from her. “I’ll protect you and Lila too!” There was a beat of silence besides for the thunder and the rain hitting the pavement. “D-Do you really think of me as your daughter?"

Ah, so she had really heard him, was she even asleep though past few minutes? “I do but I can understand if you don’t see me as a father, now up you go,” Connor said as he lifted her over the fence. 

Alice didn’t say anything until she was laying down into the makeshift bed that he had made with the blanket and his jacket as the pillow. “Hey Connor?” Alice asked sleepily as Connor hummed in response. “I see you as my dad, is it okay if I call you 

“That’s perfectly fine sweetheart, now get some sleep. We have to find a permanent place to stay until this whole deviant revolution is 

“Could we travel the world?” Alice asked with childlike innocence that Connor loved even after only knowing the child for a few 

“Of course, we can go anywhere you want to, but for now get some sleep. We have a big day ahead of us.” Connor pressed a kiss to Alice’s forehead, settling down next to her as he petted her hair softly. Maybe he could get some rest before they’ll have to be on the run again. “Hey Alice?”

“Yea?” 

“I have to go down to the convenience store that’s across the street from here so that I can get some supplies. Do you want anything from there?” Connor asked, getting on his knees and tucking Alice in a little tighter, it would be colder without Connor to keep her warm. 

“You’re not going to steal anything right?” Alice asked Connor, holding onto Lila a little tighter. “Stealing is really wrong.”

Connor gave Alice a soft smile. “Of course not, I was a detective I can’t be giving myself a fine for stealing!” That got a laugh from the girl.

“Could I have a lollipop? I want a strawberry one.” 

“Of course, I’ll be back in a few minutes-”

“When you get back can I tell you something important and I wanna play with your hair!” Alice said with a smile and Connor could only nod.    


“Alright, I’ll be right in two shakes of a lambs tail.” Connor didn’t really understand that old expression but it got another childish giggle from the girl. 

**\---**

“Now what did you want to tell me?” Connor asked, leaning against the way as Alice licked the strawberry candy.

“I’m like you!” Connor looked confused before Alice continued on. “I’m an android too.” 

“Oh, I suspected something when I noticed only one dish in the kitchen back at Mr. Williams house.” Connor said with a soft smile as Alice began to crawl into his lap. “Alice you have a bed to lay on, I doubt that I’m comfortable to lay on.”

“Too bad, you promised that I could play with your hair, it’s too clean for what you’re wearing!” Alice said, her small hands already moving to mess up Connor’s hair. “There it’s perfect!” Connor’s hair was no longer neat with the single curl hanging over his forehead was now curly. 

“Thank you Alice but you need some rest. We have to find another place to stay besides an old building that’s falling apart.” Alice made no movements making Connor sigh as he moved the blankets over Alice’s small body. 

“Is this just another way to make sure that I stay warm too?” Connor asked and Alice only smiled. Connor guessed that he was right.

**\---**

“Alice wake up, we have to go soon. Put Lila in your bag and I’ll pack up our stuff. It’s still raining so you keep this jacket on okay?” Connor put a jacket that he found in a bag on Alice, making sure that she was going to stay warm. He didn’t really remember packing that. “I’m not sure about your model but I’m pretty sure you can get sick,”

“Can you get sick too? Cause if you can I don’t want you to get sick either.” Alice said, handing over Connor’s beige jacket who gladly put it on. 

“I’m not sure but I wouldn’t take a chance, we don’t have enough money for medicine so I don’t recommend it.” Connor said, grabbing Alice’s hand soon after he packed away their blankets. No one could know that they were here. 

“Do you know where to go? Or are we just going to wander?” 

“I’m not sure kid, I think we might have to ask around but I’m sure that we’ll find a place. And when all of this settles down we can travel the world just like you want to.” Connor said as he helped Alice over the fence. “Do you need me to turn anything off?”

“Can you just turn off my need to eat? I think that being cold and getting tired will make me more like a human.” Alice said softly when Connor hopped down from the fence and did so. 

“Alright let’s go sweetheart but we have to be quiet, there are police around this place. I think that they might be looking for us.” Connor explained before they slipped out of the door in the fence. 

Alice nodded, pulling her jacket closer to her face making sure that she kept her head down. Connor followed in suite. They would have to find a place to stay quickly. From what Connor could tell it would be raining for the next few days so they would have to find a place to stay for a few days. They couldn’t afford for either of them to get sick.

**\--- 2 months later ---**

It’s been two months since the two have stayed in the abandoned building and thankfully neither of them had come across any misfortunes or of course Connor opened his big mouth. Though he was still thankful that it wasn’t Alice who had happen to fall ill but instead it was him who had. Apparently Alice was right, he can get sick. 

“Is this right place dad?” Over the past few months Alice began to call Connor ‘dad’. “Are you okay?” She must of noticed the light blue flush that he was sporting. He learned that Alice blushed a red-ish pink while Connor blushed blue, he assumed that Alice blushed pink considering how her model was for people who wanted a realistic child without having an actual child. 

“I believe so, the ship does have Jericho written on the side. And yes I am okay, I must just be cold,” Connor said slightly, his voice raspy from coughing. “Do you want me to carry you? The metal might be a little rusty so I don’t want you to fall through.” 

Alice nodded and hopped up onto Connor’s back. “You’re really warm, are you sure that you’re okay?”

Connor hummed in response and hesitantly walked onto the rusting metal and sighed. “Alice?” A hum in response. “All though that Jericho is supposed to be a safe haven for androids but I’ve done some bad things in the past so they might not accept me but if they can’t you have to promise that you’ll stay here even without me. You need a safe place to stay and when this all blows over I’ll promised to come and find you okay?”

Alice made a small noise as a protest but nodded anyway. “You’ll stay safe though?

“Of course I will and you will too alright,” Connor said as he walked onto the ship, his breath catching in his throat with each step echoing against the metal. He stopped when he heard another set of footsteps though when he stopped walking the other foot steps did too. 

“Dad why did you stop walking? Is something wrong?” Alice asked in a soft voice knowing that she should be quiet. 

“I’m not sure but I think someone else is here with us-” Connor started to stay before being cut off with a racking cough making the footsteps go faster and eventually fade away (he suspected that the person went to the bottom of the ship which Connor had no clue how to get to). 

“Dad are you okay?” Alice said worriedly after Connor got over his coughing fit and kept on walking, being careful of where he stepped making sure that Alice wouldn’t hurt her head on the beams that had fallen down.

“I’m fine, there’s just a lot of dust.” Connor lied, peeking his head around the the corner before walking down the hallway to the stairs being careful not the make too much noise on the old metal stairs that lead down to a dimly lit room with a few people gathered around a barrel with fire. Although with Connor’s bad luck, the stair creaked under his weight and multiple heads shot towards the two figures. Well shit.

“Who are you?” A female android snarled at Connor who didn’t take another step making Alice look what was happening.

“I’m Connor and this is my daughter Alice.” Connor said softly, his voice getting weaker and weaker every word that came out of his mouth. “W-we need a place to stay, please.” There was a moment of silence and Connor’s anxiety rose, where they not going to let them stay? “I-If you won’t allow me to stay at least let Alice. She needs a safe place to grow up,”

The man with blond hair opened his mouth to speak and Connor took a hesitant step back, seeing that man reminded Connor too much of Daniel. But Daniel was  _ fine _ Connor came back just to help Daniel get fixed up and into a safe place. Daniel was  _ fine _ .

“Dad?” Alice said softly breaking Connor out of his thoughts. 

“S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to get caught up in my own thoughts.” Connor mumbled, fidgeting with his hands. “Sorry sir, you just remind me of someone.” Connor said to the blond. 

“It’s quite alright Connor, I’m Simon.” Simon stuck his hand out and Connor took it after he managed to make sure Alice wouldn’t fall off if he let go.

“I’m Markus- the ‘leader’. This is North.” Markus gestured to the lady who was hostile at the two in the beginning. “And this is Josh. Welcome to Jericho you two.” 

“Thank you sir.” Connor said truthfully, letting Alice go when she tapped on Connor’s shoulder. “Is there anyway that I could help around here? I feel like I should help you.” 

“Unless you can kill the current CEO of CyberLife and get our rights then no.” North said sarcastically and Connor could only smile softly at Alice who was no exploring the room though making sure to stay in Connor’s line of sight. She knew that if she traveled to far away from Connor’s line of sight he would get really worried.

“I have zero intents to kill but I know a way in and even a person to help.” Connor said softly almost like he was afraid to admit what he knows. 

The four deviants looked at each other, weighing the different possibilities of what Connor said. “How do you know?”

“Oh- uh, maybe four months ago, give or take, I went to Mr. Kamski’s house to interview him and he told me that everything he built had some sort of backdoor in it’s coding. So easier to find than others,” Connor exclaimed, looking down at Alice who tugged on his jacket, asking to be picked up. “I’m sorry to cut this conversation short but is there a place that Alice and I could stay in? I know that I can’t make any requests but could we at least have a smaller room?” 

“Don’t think that you can get out of this-” North growled at Connor who looked down. 

“North, they traveled all this way for safety. Let them rest.” Markus stepped in, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Of course, we can show you to a room. We can talk tomorrow when you’re more rested. Follow me,” Markus said as he lead the two down a hallway with multiple small rooms lining the rooms. 

“Thank you sir. I’ll try to tell you what I know.” Connor said softly once he had ushered Alice into the room. 

“You’re quite welcome Connor. You too have a good night.” Markus said politely before leaving Connor to his own demises. 

“Dad?” Alice’s soft voice brought him out of his thoughts. “Could you tell me a story and one that’s from your brain.”

Connor smiled softly as he sat down by Alice who had put the blankets on the old metal bed. “There once was an adventurer who had a trusty forest spirit in a form of a fox that followed her everywhere she went; the adventurer named it Kilia because to the adventurer Kilia was her own slice of heaven as they traveled around the world, looking for fun.” Connor looked down at Alice who was already asleep- he would finish the story tomorrow. “Good night Alice,” Connor said softly as he moved her over slightly so he could lay down as well, making sure that he was facing the door just in case. 

**\---**

“Markus we can’t let them stay here!” North yelled, ignoring the others trying to quiet her down. Other people were sleeping. “It’s too dangerous when that  _ android _ is fucking living here! It’s the fucking deviant hunter, it’s going to lead CyberLife right to us and we’re all going to  _ die _ .”

Markus glared at North for basically dehumanizing Connor. “I’m aware that Connor was the deviant hunter but from what I could tell he’s been a deviant since August. That’s longer than all of us. Tomorrow we’ll ask him all the questions we have.” 

“So? Just because it’s been a deviant longer than us doesn’t mean that it won’t kill us all!” North said, glaring Markus. “How can we even trust the girl? How do we know that she won’t run away and get CyberLife when it’s dead?!”

“North,” Simon said softly. “Why do you call Connor an it? He’s as much as a human as we are.” 

“I just- I just don’t trust him. I know that he sees Alice as a daughter which shows that he’s not a cold machine but he’s kill so much of our people. I don’t want anyone to die with him here.” North replied, not meeting anyones eye. 

Sighing Markus clapped North on the shoulder again. “I know that you’re worried about Connor but for now we should all get some sleep and then we’ll talk to Connor about everything tomorrow.” 

There were a chorus of nods and another chorus of ‘good night’s before they all went separate ways to their own room.

**\---**

Per usual Connor woke up far before the sunrise (Connor’s internal clock told him that it was 5 am). He usually woke Alice up a hour later after Connor knew it was safe for them to move away from their safe house but because they were in Jericho Connor knew that there was no immediate threat or if there was Connor would hear them coming because of the echos. So there no need for him to leave the room to go scout the area so he just sat there, combing his fingers through Alice’s hair (she always took it out of her pony tail at night). 

“Dad?” Alice’s soft voice made him jump a bit. “What time is it?”

“It’s five am kiddo. Why are you even awake at this time?” 

“Why are  _ you _ awake?” Alice said as she moved to her side, hiding her face in Connor’s jacket. 

“I’m always up at this time silly. Now why are you awake?” Connor bit back a smile.

“I had a nightmare,” 

Connor’s fingers stilled for a second before they resumed what they were doing. “Was it about Todd?” Connor got a small nod in response,” I’m sorry sweetheart, do you want to get up and see if we can go watch the sunrise?”

Alice sat up and went to their bags where she pulled out a small comb with a smile. She always liked how Connor did her hair. “Can you do a braid for me?”

"Of course, come sit down. Your hair looks like a rats nest.” Connor said with a smile obvious in his voice as he went through Alice’s messy hair. 

“Are we going to stay here until the re-revolution ends?” Alice stuttered over the word revolution as she sounded it out. “Or are we going have to leave again?”

“I’m not sure. I hope that we can stay but I’m not sure that North trusts me quite yet.” Connor replied as he began to braid Alice’s hair. “But remember what I said last night?”

Alice nodded curtly so that she wouldn’t disturb Connor as he worked. “That if you can’t stay I need to stay.” 

Connor made a hum in response as he put a hair tie in Alice’s newly made braid. “Let’s go watch the sunrise now.”

Alice jumped up, putting the blankets back in the bag before she ran out of the small room, her shoes making loud noises but quickly calmed down when Connor reminded her that other people would still be sleeping around this ungodly time. “Come on dad! I wanna see if there are still stars out!” Alice tugged on Connor’s hand, leading him through the hallways looking for a place to look at the sky. 

“Alice slow down!” Connor let out a small laugh as he was tugged along and almost ran into Alice when she stopped suddenly. “Did you find a place to watch the sky?”

“Yep!” Alice lead him into an open room that Connor would assume would be a ballroom but all the open windows where all broken leaving the room seeming more open than with the windows. “Come sit down!” Alice raced over to the edge and Connor felt something settling in his stomach as Alice sat down but he knew that she wasn’t that stupid to sit that close. 

Sitting down on the edge Connor watched the sun started to rise. It must of taken them longer to find an area that would let them watch the sky.

“Do you think that one day we could go to the stars?” Alice rested her head on his shoulder.

“That’s awfully ambitious of you kiddo but I think we could.” Connor said and Alice smiled so brightly that could rival the sun itself. 

The two watched the sunrise until Connor’s internal clock told him that it was seven. Surely everyone else should be up. “Let’s go see if everyone else is up. I promised the others that I would tell them what I know. Maybe there are some kids that you could play with.”

Alice shook her head as her grip grew tighter on Connor’s hand. “I don’t wanna play with them, they might think I’m weird.” 

“I doubt that will happen but you can hang out with me as we talk about boring adult things.” 

With that Alice’s smile grew as she leaped up and bounced on the balls of her feet as Connor got up. “I wanna help with your boring adult talks!” 

Connor laughed as Alice grabbed his hand and they began to make their way back to the main room where they first meet everyone and the first thing that they were met with was North glaring right at them.

“Where the fuck were you?” 

Connor flinched back and Alice hid behind his legs. “What do you mean? We stayed in Jericho because I knew that you wanted to talk about what I knew.” 

“Where. Were. you.” North growled making Connor even more confused. 

“The old ballroom,” Connor said softly, feeling everyone’s eyes on him and Alice. “North c-can we not talk here I doubt what I’m going to talk about is, appropriate, for the others to hear but if needed I can make it less horrible.” 

North glared again but stalked off leaving the two standing in the doorway, their hearts beating loudly. If Connor still had his LED it would be a bright red showing his discomfort and if anyone scanned him they would find that his stress levels will be far too high- almost at the levels of self destruction. 

“Connor?” A raspy female voice brought Connor out of his thoughts. Turning his head he saw the blue haired Traci model and her girlfriend. “It’s good to see you again.” 

Connor gave the two a soft smile, “It’s good to see you too again. I’m sorry but I never catched your names we were in an awkward position and on a time crunch but I’m glad that you got here safely.”

“You’re the one that helped us come here. I’m Karen by they way and my wife is May.” Karen explained and Connor just noticed the gold wedding bands on their ring fingers.

“Congrats you two.” 

“Thanks!” May said cheerfully her eyes warm and her smile was soft when she noticed Alice hiding behind his legs but she poked out to look at the married couple. “And who is this Connor?”

“Oh! This is my daughter Alice,” Connor stepped to the side so that Alice could say hello herself but she only hid her face furter when given the spotlight. “Sorry, she’s a little shy around new people.”

“Don’t worry about that. I didn’t even know you had a kid.” Karen gushed as she knelt down to look at Alice.

“Up until two months ago I didn’t.” Connor said with a smile. 

“Well congrats anyways. I hope your welcome to Jericho was nice.” May said, looking at Connor. 

“Ah well-” Connor started to speak before Markus came running up seeming out of breath like he just ran a mile inside Jericho.

“There you are Connor! We couldn’t find you in your room last night when we noticed that you haven’t woken up yet!”

“Oh, I was up long before the sunrise per usual.” Connor said softly, feeling Alice’s hands grip his jacket again. “I thought North would have informed you when we came down; she seemed quite angry at us for disappearing for a few hours.” 

“Ah, so that’s why she was steaming from the ears.” Markus said with a chuckle. “Oh hello Mary and Karen- I hope that you have a good morning?”

“We’re doing well. Is everything okay by the way? We’ve only known Connor for a few hours but we still worry about him,” Karen said, crossing her arms making Connor smile even if they had only met for a few moments Connor could tell she was hard-headed. 

“North is very worried about newcomers.” Markus exclaimed lightly, keeping his attention on the newly married couple not noticing how the other two walked away.

“Does North not like us?” Alice asked when they walked away. It was becoming too much for Connor and Alice was tugging him away, small blessings he guessed.

“I don’t know sweetheart. I think she just doesn’t like me and not you.” Connor said softly as he sat down next to the wall away from the others and Alice sat down next to him snuggling close to him. It was quite cold in Jericho and even if Connor made sure to bundle Alice up he knew that she was still cold to some degree and he was cold too even if he didn’t want to admit it to her. 

“Do we  _ have _ to stay here? You’re not welcome here and I don’t feel safe without you,” 

Connor sighed softly, Alice had a stubborn streak like he did too, it in fact did not balance out nicely but it Connor tended to be the voice of reason so that worked out. “I know. Someday we’ll buy a small house and maybe we’ll get a dog,”

“And a fox?” Alice looked up at Connor like she had the stars in her eyes.

“Sorry kiddo, foxes are wild animals. It would be cruel for us to keep one in our house but a dog we could do. You can pick the breed and name.”

“I want a white dog! Like the german shepherd we saw a few weeks ago but white!” Alice said warmly making Connor smile warmly as well.

“We could find a dog like that. Maybe a White Swiss Shepherd?” Connor asked, ruffling Alice’s hair getting a string of complaints. “What do you plan to name them when we get one?”

“I don’t know yet! Maybe Leo if their a boy and Kori if their a girl!” 

“Those are some good names Alice,” Connor said smiling at the younger girl. “We should probably find the others, don’t want North and maybe even the others getting mad at us for disappearing again.” 

“But I don’t want to listen to your boring adult talks,”   


“You’re allowed to go play with the other kids or hang out with Karen and May if you don’t want to listen to our ‘boring adult talks’.” 

“I don’t wanna play with the other kids. What if they think I’m weird and they hate me?” Alice fiddled with her fingers, a nervous habit that she had picked up during her time with Connor. 

“I doubt that they’ll hate you Alice but if you really want to stay with me I’ll let you play with my coin and I’ll show you some of my tricks.” 

“Really?” Connor nodded as he stood up, Alice quickly following in suite. “Let’s go then! I wanna play with your coin! Come on dad you’re taking soo~ long!” Alice tugged on Connor’s hand a less than silence way to tell him to hurry up.

“Oh there you are you two!” Josh (At least that’s what Connor thought his name was). “We were worried that you ran off again.” 

Connor knew that North was mad again even if Josh didn’t say it he knew that North was going to be pissed. “Sorry for disappearing again, it just became too much seeing old colleagues and everyone just in the area.”   


“I understand that completely.” Josh nodded and noticed Alice trailing along besides him. “I don’t think that it’s a good idea for your daughter to come with.”

Alice pouted slightly and gripped Connor’s beige jacket again as a sign that she wasn't going to leave his side. “I think that she’ll be fine if she stays with me.”

“Very well but you know that we’ll be asking questions that aren’t suitable for a child.” Josh said with a cold edge in his voice. With hearing the cold edge to his voice, Connor instantly tensed up even if he knew that Josh was helping keeping Alice safe from the stuff they were going to talk about but if it became too much for her, Alice would tell him.

“Alice would be able to handle what we’ll talk about.” Connor squared his shoulders and looked Josh in the eye even if Connor was a inch or two shorter. 

“Very well, let me show you to the meeting room.” Josh said curtly and turned his heel and began to walk not even looking back at the two.

“Josh doesn’t seem nice.”

“Not everyone is going to trust us right away. It’s just going to take a while for them to trust us.” Connor said as he slipped his quarter out of his pocket and put it in Alice’s smaller hand. 

Alice ran her fingers over the quarters ridges with the same childlike innocence from two months. “Still, they’re mean to us. Do we have to stay here?”

“We do have to stay here, just until this whole thing blows over and we’ll start a new life.” Connor said softly, holding Alice’s free hand as they followed Josh staying a few steps behind. “You’ll be able to go to school, I’ll get a job as a detective and we’ll be one big happy family.”

“I would like that.” Alice said as she looked up at Connor who smiled back down at her. 

“We’re here.” Was all that Josh said when they arrived at the meeting room and Connor took a deep breath. He could do this, he’s been in more stressful situations than this- he could handle this.

“Where the fuck were you?” North spat at Connor who glared right back. Right now he was sick of tired of being pushed around by her, hell he was tired of being pushed around period- he was a deviant meaning that he didn’t have to listen to anyone anymore.

“I didn’t know that I was prisoner here.” Connor said cooly as he covered Alice’s ears, she may have heard the same words but Connor liked to live the fantasy that she hadn’t. “I thought Jericho was a safe place for your people and yet it feels like I’m being taken apart all over again.” 

There was a beat of silence and Connor felt all the irritation he had pent up melt away. “I-I’m sorry for yelling at four. I’m just tired and to be frank tired of how you treat us like you don’t trust us.”

There was another beat of silence and Connor’s anxiety rose even higher before Markus spoke up. “I’m sorry that you felt this way Connor and you’re right, we shouldn’t be keeping you like a prisoner but you’re aware that we will need to question you about your intentions.

Connor nodded as he moved to sit down, Alice following him though she didn’t sit down in her own chair, she just sat down on his lap as she tried to recreate Connor’s coin tricks. 

“When did you become a deviant?” Markus asked, of course it would be their first question. “And why did you even become a deviant?” Ah, another question that they were going to ask.

“I became a deviant on August 15th, 2038. Quite odd to be honest, becoming deviant the first time I was awake,” Connor looked down at Alice who showed him that she could now flip the coin with only a little bit of mistake. “There were little things that pushed me towards being a deviant but what really pushed me was that I was supposed to finish a hostage case where I was supposed to save a girl name Emma from an android named Daniel who was fairly close to an edge at gunpoint. My mission was just to save Emma, there was nothing about saving Daniel but,” Connor hesitated for a moment looking at Simon before looking away. “after hearing Daniel’s story and looking around the penthouse I-I just couldn’t leave him to die so I helped him escape and find Jericho or at least tell him where Jericho was.”

“How did you know where Jericho was and it took you forever to come here yourself?” Markus asked, another good question that Connor should probably explain as well. 

“I never really had a reason to I guess. I wanted to help other deviants find Jericho before I had a reason to go myself. And for knowing where Jericho was I’m not sure if I can give you a solid answer to knowing why I knew where Jericho was. It’s kinda like how you find Jericho as well.”

“Then why do you have Alice?”

Oh another question but Connor didn’t know how to answer this one. He knew why he had Alice, he got her out of an abusive household and took her in as his own. And now that he thinks about it did Alice even think the same thing? 

“That’s cause he’s my dad- he cares about me.” Alice spoke up not even looking up from playing with Connor’s coin. 

“Alice,”

“Does it even bother you that he’s the deviant hunter?” North asked, her voice just calmer than how it was when she spoke to him.

Alice stayed silent but shook her head and that was the end of that conversation.

“Is that all?” 

“Uh, actually Jericho needs your help Connor.” Simon spoke up for the first time since he met them. Connor made a small noise for him to go on. “We’re running out of therium and bio-compartments and limbs and the we have no clue where to get some.”

“Oh,” Was the only thing that Connor said before speaking up again. “I know a loading dock that have all the supplies that you need. I’m pretty positive that there is trucks with supplies in them.”

“We’ve already did that a few weeks ago and we almost  _ died _ .” North said.

“Then you didn’t do it right. It was probably your first heist of sorts if I’m not wrong.” Connor said bluntly as he looked at Alice play with his coin before her silently asking for him to her how to do it. “My guess is that you didn’t plan it well enough, maybe even didn’t know that lay out of the dock.”

North looked a little offended but Connor spoke the truth. “I’d be able to help you get in. I’ll be coming with but I have to stay in the back; I’m a wanted android, a state of the art one nonetheless. Once they find me my successor will come and-” Connor trailed off, he rather not think about what Amanda and the engineers at Cyberlife threatened him with. 

Alice noticed that his fingers stopped moving the coin around and she looked worried at him. Connor didn’t dare tell her what could happen if he got caught. It had happened before, he was sent back to CyberLife after damaging a biocompartment (when he got there they removed much more than just the damaged bio compartment), it was a miracle that the engineers were just trainees so they didn’t know what a deviant android would look like, they were all sent to the junkyard. 

“So will you do it?” Markus asked and Connor nodded. Even if he wasn’t a machine anymore it still felt like he was getting ordered around- sure he had a choice if he wanted to or not but their people were dying from the lack of supplies. 

Connor stayed silent for a moment before nodding. “I’ll do it but in return I wanted my daughter and I to be treated as normal. No more walking on eggshells around us; Alice didn’t do anything wrong and I may have done something wrong in my past but that’s in the past. Deal?”

Markus nodded as he reached out his hand for Connor to take. “You have yourself a deal,” 

Shaking Markus’ hand Connor sighed silently, he would have to plan this whole heist out and actually execute it perfectly just so that the others would trust him. Guess that this sickness would have to wait. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two very important people to Connor are introduced

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings -  
> \- Violence  
> \- Gun shot wounds  
> \- Minor gore (??)

Connor had sent Alice away to Karen and May while they planned the heist. “At the very edge of Detroit there is a loading dock that isn’t as heavily guarded as the rest.” Connor said as he pointed to the hologram map that he asked Markus to pull up. “I don’t know why there is but I do know that there are significantly less guards and less security camera drones. So at 1 am, there is a ten minute gap for when the guards switch positions.” 

“How can we know to trust you? For all we know that we could be leading us right into a trap.” North glared at Connor who glared right back. At this point he was completely done with how he had been treated. 

“Fine, don’t go get your people more supplies- let them die.” Connor stood up turning to leave the meeting room. “When you come to your senses that I am trying to  _ help _ you please come and find me,”

There was a moment of silence before Markus spoke up. “Please don’t leave Connor, we really do need your help.”

Connor sighed, his hand falling away from the door knob. “Fine, I’ll help,” Connor turned around and sat down again. “I told you what I could so now all we have to execute it, it’ll at least take a few minutes to get here from Jericho so we should leave around 12:40 so we could go over the plan once more.”

“We’re doing it tonight?” Simon asked seeming a little shocked. “Shouldn’t we tell the others what we’re going to be doing?”

“Of course not, it’ll just make more people panic. We’ll just have to be back in a timely manner with enough supplies to last us all.” Connor said as he turned off the hologram map. “Please bring a large bag or at least two backpacks so that we can transport the blue blood into the truck. Before I leave, may I ask who can drive?”

Markus raised his hand and Connor nodded, “Good, Markus you’ll drive one truck and I’ll drive another. I’ll see you here at 12:35.” And with that, Connor left the room, Connor had a feeling that they would be ignoring him until the desired time but that was perfectly fine with him, a few hours of being alone with Alice was perfectly fine with him. 

**\---**

Connor was the first one to arrive in the meeting place but that was completely normal, he always showed up a few minutes earlier; he had learned that both humans and deviants have a tendency to be a little late but because this was a fairly important mission maybe the other four would be timely. Connor stood there, looking at the night sky wishing that he could see the stars despite the smog filled city, with every second passing he had to tell himself that Alice was fine, they were in a safe place which didn’t require for him to keep watch, as long as they returned in the within the time given, he could return to their room without Alice even noticing that he was gone. 

“Connor?” Markus asked, startling Connor from his thoughts. “Are you ready to go? You’re the one who’s taking us there so when you’re ready just say so.”

Connor took a deep breath, tearing his eyes away from the night sky. “I’m ready. I hope you remember your rolls of this. There is no room for errors and you need to return here, you have people to lead to freedom.”

“Shouldn’t you be congratulated for this as well? You’re the one who came up with this plan.” Simon said as Connor began to walk off the ship with the map of way to the loading dock in the back of his mind, he preconstructed the route while he waiting- it would be easy to get there. 

Connor closed his eyes at every loud noise that was near them, it didn’t matter if was their footsteps or a dog. “I’m not one to be in the spotlight. As far as the others know, I’m just an android who just has a daughter- if they know who I am. For doing this your relation will strengthen with Jericho and that’s the best thing you can have in a time like these.” 

There was a few minutes of silence besides of the fact of the snow falling but Josh went to break it. “Connor, what is your percentage of living?”

Ah, Connor had factored his death and his life into this mission but he hadn’t really thought that one of them would care what would happen to him. “It all depends on how this goes. If everything goes according to plan I have a 76% chance of living but everytime something goes wrong, that chance goes down.”

“And what’s ours?”

“94%,” Connor said bluntly. “It goes down slightly when something goes wrong but it won’t go as low as 88%.” 

“Why is ours so high?” 

Connor didn’t answer the question this time- it would be better if they were kept in the dark on how he would keep them safe. “That does not concern you at this time, what matters is that we get this right. And- And if I do not make it back please take care of Alice for me.”

The other four looked at eachother with tense silence before Markus nodded. “I doubt that Alice trust us just yet but we promise to keep her safe.” Connor smiled softly at Markus before he began to climb the chain link fence. 12:59 and the seconds counting down until there was a ten minute break. 

1 am, time to move. “Remember to stay quiet, it’s time to move.” There were four nods and Connor finally hopped over the fence and motioned the others to follow him. “Markus you follow me and you three take our bags to fill it with as much thirium you can, good luck everyone.”

When everyone was gone Markus spoke up in a hushed voice. “You lied about your percentage of survival.” 

How Markus was able to find that out was far beyond Connor, they had better things to worry about it. “I did,”

“Why did you?”

Connor looked around the corner of a container before motioning Markus to follow him. “If I do survive, I’ll tell you but right now we have a mission to finish.” Markus looked at Connor worriedly but nodded and followed him along.  

“Is there a way that we could grab more than two trucks? Like, putting in Jericho’s address or close to it so that we could get more supplies?” Markus asked. 

“Unless you want CyberLife to know where everyone is then be my guest but I do not recommend it. I know that you want to have more supplies but you are risking death for your people. Plus they’ll notice a lot of trucks gone so they’ll go looking for them. When we finish this we’ll have to drive these out miles and miles away from Jericho just so they won’t get close.” Connor said bluntly as he hopped into the car to turn off the tracker and so that he could drive it himself. “I know that we’re supposed to stay together but, I-I worry,”

Markus nodded understanding, “I’ll stay here and Connor?” Connor turned around looking at Markus. “Stay safe and come back alive,” Connor nodded before running off to find the others. For some reason it just didn’t sit right with him. 

But before Connor could find the other three, they found him instead and seemingly running away from something. “Shit Connor, someone found us, I don’t know how but they did.”

Shit, he may have thought that this could happen but it was a low chance of it actually happening and he would never think it would actually happen. “Shit, you three run straight you’ll see Markus waiting at the trucks. I’ll be right behind you and whatever you do, do not look back,” Connor heard noises that sounded like footsteps, whatever he had to say next he had to make in quick. “If I do not return in fifteen minutes, leave without me.” 

“None of us can drive though!” Josh exclaimed.

“It’s easy, just follow Markus and you’ll be good and if you’re lucky you’ll steal three truck but no more than three. Got it?” He got a few nods. “Good, now go.”

Connor didn’t see if they ran away as a fifteen minute countdown appeared in the corner of his vision. Fifteen minutes to take down the threat, as much as he didn’t want to kill the guards he knew that he must- if he didn’t they would tell CyberLife he was here. Fourteen minutes and counting down.

“Who goes there?” A gruff voiced guard asked as Connor stepped around the corner facing them head on. If he was to die, he’d just die. At least Alice would have people taking care of her- he hoped that maybe she’d forgive him. 

Connor took a deep breath and drew out his gun, he only had 7 bullets left and there were four guards, he didn’t have enough bullets to shoot everyone twice so he would have to make each shot count.

“State your name right now before we open fire!” The gruff voice spoke up again and there was a familiar click of the safety being turned off. Connor didn’t say anything besides for turning off his own safety and holding it up to one of the guards chest, he didn’t want to kill them but it was necessary. 

Connor didn’t wait another second for the head guard to speak up again. 11 minutes and 10 seconds remaining. Connor took a deep breath before firing and watching the now dead guard fall to his back with a bullet hole in his chest. “I’m sorry,” He mouthed at the dead body, they guard didn’t need to die or any of them needed to die but it was either him or the guards and Connor had to get back to Alice.

After the initial shock of their fellow guard being killed right in front of them the gruff voiced guard yelled out. “Fire!” 

9 minutes and 10 seconds remaining as Connor dodged the bullets coming his way. A few hit his shoulder and clipped his sides and arms but those were wounds that he could still fight with. With every few shots from the guards, Connor shot one back; his own shot always hitting its mark. Though before Connor could shoot the last guard he shot him in the torso making him stumble a bit- shit, that wasn’t good but for now he would have to ignore it. 

7 minutes and 50 seconds remaining Connor sighed as he stared at the now dead bodies in front of him feeling all the dread and guilt rise from his stomach and into his throat- making it hard for him to breath. “I’m sorry,” Connor said again as he stole one of the guards guns, leaving his own behind in the same guards hands. “I’m sorry that I killed you, you didn’t deserve to die.”

Connor spared the dead guards before he ran off, only 5 minutes and 45 seconds to return to the trucks, that is if he even made it to the trucks and the guards didn’t sound some sort of alarm before Connor had killed them. Of course Connor was injured so that would shave off three minutes of his running so in reality, he only had two minutes to get there. 2 minutes to run back to the truck and not die from thirium loss. 

**[Warning, thirium levels at 35% and decreasing steadily]**

**[Shutdown in 30:00.00]**

Shit, that wasn’t good Connor thought sluggishly as he ran past the crates he ran past before.  _ Shit _ he was probably leaving a trail of thirium back to the trucks and if another RK800 unit came to investigate the crime scene they’d notice all the blue blood. Maybe Lieutenant Anderson would lead the other RK800 unit away from the blood trail- there’s probably a valid reason why there was thirium all around. 

45 seconds appeared in red as Connor rounded the corner to the trucks seeing the other four wait in the trucks for him, they all seemed to look nervously around the surrounding area either they were nervous guards would come up and kill them or they were nervous that Connor wouldn’t make it in time. Another thing that Connor noticed was that North was sitting in another truck instead of sitting in the first one that he had hacked into, was she really thinking that he would return- he didn’t even know that she could drive. 

Connor made a hand movement at the others as soon as he got into the truck, the 15 seconds leaving the corner of his vision. It was time for them to leave.

**\---**

“Connor your plan worked!” Simon smiled widely as he ran up to Connor as soon as they finished bringing the supplies into Jericho. “We can’t thank you enough!”

**[Shutdown in 17:13:34]**

Connor dismissed the warning and gave Simon a smile. “I only came up with the plan Simon, you four are the one who executed it and you all did good. Are any of you hurt by the way?”

Simon shook his head, a smile still on his face. “Well, Josh got a bruise from hitting his shin on a crate.” Connor let out a small huff of laughter. “Are you hurt though? You ran head first into four guards.”

Connor opened his mouth trying to find the right words that wouldn’t make Simon panic. “Not majorly. A few grazes but no major bio compartments were hit,” It wasn’t really a lie, he may have gotten shot in the torso but biocompartment #3450 - 7 was only grazed. 

“You’re bleeding everywhere Connor,” Simon looked at Connor, his eyebrows furrowing with worry. Simon didn’t say anything, he must of been scanning him and see what was going on. “Connor your thirium levels are at 24%!” Ah, that was probably why he felt sluggish. “Markus, Connor’s injured!”

Markus’ head shot up at the mention that Connor was injured, odd. Maybe it was just the fact that they felt like they had to repay him back. “How bad?”

“Thirium levels are at 24% and seeming to be decreasing.”

“How did this happen Connor?” Oh, a question directed towards him.

“I just got shot a few times, it’s nothing that bad.” Connor said softly, his shoulder feeling sore and Markus gave him a look for him to go on. “All my minor injuries like grazes have already healed up but the most major injury is a gunshot wound in my shoulder- the bullet is still in there hence why my thirium levels are so low.” 

“How much time until you shutdown?” Markus asked after sending Simon off to find a first aid kit even if it was useless, it had tweezers which was needed to get the bullet out. 

Connor focused on the pop up that was obstructing his vision. “Enough time to remove the bullet if we do this efficiently.” Connor said as he shucked off his jacket, thankfully it wasn’t that ruined, a few stitches should fix this up, all he need to do was to find a needle and thread. 

“Please take your shirt off Connor, I can’t get to the wound with it on.” Markus asked as he looked through the kit for the tweezers as Connor slowly took off his black t-shirt showing off his thirium stained toros. “Fucking hell this fucking bullet is deep,” Markus mumbled to himself as he had Simon hold Connor’s shoulder still as he extracted the bullet then watching the synthetic skin merge back as if nothing happen. When Markus tossed the bullet that was once in his shoulder away he noticed the other bullet wound on his torso (thankfully that went all the way through). “How come you didn’t tell anyone about this injury?”

“I- sorry?” Connor said hesitantly like he was worried about people finding out how he was feeling. 

Markus quickly scanned Connor to see what was damaged. “Your bio compartment #3450 - 7 is damaged and your thirium levels are currently at 20% so this will have to quick.” Markus turned his head at Simon as Markus kept his hands on the wound to staunch the bleeding. “Simon, get two bags of thirium and biocompartment #3450 - 7.” 

Simon nodded and quickly ran off ignoring North’s and Josh’s yells at him for messing up the stuff that they have already began to organize and Simon could only give the two a half-assed apology saying that this was important. 

“Thank you Simon,” Markus mumbled and everything to Connor felt underwater even if his ears were working perfectly fine or at least that’s what his scan told him. “Shit come on Connor stay awake alright? Talk to me about Alice,” 

Connor didn’t reply to Markus’ attempts for Connor to stay awake though he had nodded slightly and closed his eyes, desperately trying to ignore the flashing red

“Thank you Markus.” Connor said as he stood up, “I’m sorry that this injury held back your time to put the supplies. I’ll try to my best to help out.” Connor put his shirt back on and his jacket, maybe Karen or May knew how to sew or maybe even Daniel  _ if _ he was here.

Markus looked worriedly at Connor before nodding, “We can do that in the morning so that we’ll have more help.” Connor nodded, rubbing his recently shot shoulder. “I’ll see you in the morning, good night Connor.” Connor nodded again, moving to walk down the hallway his and Alice’s room way. “Oh and Connor?” Connor turned around, looking Markus in the eye. “Thank you for helping us tonight we all owe you.”

Connor only smiled softly, nodding at the leader before turning down the hallway. 

**\---**

_ “Your time is up Connor,” The other RK800 unit said, holding up his gun to Hank’s temple who glared at the other RK800 unit. “It’s your own life or Lieutenant Anderson’s life. You make the choice,” _

_ Connor looked at Hank who met his eyes. “Sorry Con, this asshole is a splitting image of you,” _

_ Connor looked at Hank and quickly scanned him for any injuries. There was none but Hank did have a high stress level, 87%; if Connor had scanned him and found no signs of stress, Connor would become quite worried considering who wouldn’t be stressed in a situation like this? Connor closed out of the newly found information and just  _ looked _ at Hank who was glaring at the other RK800 unit.  _

_ Connor tore his gaze away Hank and then at the RK800 unit. He made his decision, it didn’t matter if he lived or not. _

_ Lunging for the RK800 unit he got shot a few times and scuffled a little bit before Hank shot out a warning shot. “I don’t know which one is the real Con but I do know that one you are a lying bastard and the other is my partner. Where did we first met?” _

_ Connor opened his mouth to answer but the other android beat him to it, “We met at Jimmy’s bar, I went to four other bars before I found you.” _

_ “I-I knew that too! All my memories were loaded into this other unit.” Hank’s gun was trained on him and Connor shut up.  _

_ “You, what’s my dog named?”  _

_ Connor smiled he knew this one- it was one of the first things he and Hank talked about. “Your dogs named Sumo,” _

_ “I knew that too! Ask me another question!” The fake Connor yelled now having the gun trained on him. _

_ “If you knew what my dogs name was, what was my sons?”  _

_ The other android didn’t say another and Connor felt confident, “Your sons name is Cole. He just turned six at the time of the accident. It wasn’t your fault Hank,” Connor took a deep breath before continuing on, he had to live. “There was no doctor available for the procedure so an android had to do it- that’s why you hate androids,”  _

_ There was a loud gunshot that rang out in the area and Hank turned to him. “I don’t hate androids because they killed my son I hate the doctor that was too high on red ice to do the procedure.” Connor smiled at Hank, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. He almost  _ died _ , Hank almost killed him if he got the question wrong. “I’m sorry for almost shooting you Con-” _

_ “I accept your apology,” Connor cut him off with a smile. “I understand how stressful that situation would be.” _

_ “Don’t be a smartass Con,” Hank smiled as he ruffled Connor’s hair. “Let’s head home Con.”  _

_ Connor smiled again as they walked away from the now dead RK800 unit.  _

**_\---_ **

_ “I see you passed our test,” Amanda said as she clipped away the dead roses from the trelice, not turning to look at Connor.  _

_ “It was a test?” Connor said softly, shocked that CyberLife and Amanda would do such a thing (actually, he could but he rather not). “You sent a perfectly good Connor model just to see what I chose? Amanda why would you-” _

_ “Connor that is enough.”  Amanda’s stern voice made the words that bubbled in his throat stop. “The test was to see if you were becoming a deviant,” Connor’s thirium pump stopped for a moment and the thirium running through his body ran cold. “Deviants have a tendency to save themselves while machines save the people they are assigned to.” _

_ Connor didn’t say a thing, Amanda didn’t know that he was a deviant.  _

_ “Good job today Connor,”  _

_ It didn’t feel like he did a good job. _

**\---**

“Dad?” A soft voice roused him from his sleep but Connor just kept his eyes closed. He didn’t want to wake up, he felt sore and just reliving that memory made everything hurt. “Dad you gotta wake up, people are look for you,”

“What is it Alice?” Connor asked, opening his eyes, blinking away the sleep and the tears that threatened to fall down his face.” 

“People are looking for you and it’s 11:30.” Alice said and Connor shot up, swearing under his breath. 

“Sorry for sleeping so late sweetheart, do you want me to do your hair?” Alice nodded, sitting down on the ground as she handed him a hair tie, “Just a ponytail today?” Alice nodded again and he gathered her hair before tying it into a quick ponytail.

“Are you okay dad?” Alice asked and Connor titled his head as they walked down the hallway. “You weren’t waking up and I was getting worried.”

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I just had a long night yesterday so I must of been really tired,” Connor smile down at Alice who didn’t seem to agree fully but nodded. “Did you have a fun time with Karen and May?”

Alice’s smile grew brighter as she began to ramble about the time she spent with the married couple. “We played a game that we used to play!”

“Which one?”

“The knight one!” Ah, Connor was fairly familiar to this make believe came. The two had played it quite a lot when they were holed up in a safe place for a short time. Alice was always the knight while Connor was always the damsel in distress- it was an odd, different from what other would play it as but Alice was quite adamant for saving Connor over and over again, claiming that she wanted to return the favor for him saving her from Todd’s home. 

“Who was the princess?”

“May was and Karen was the evil wizard who kept Princess May locked away!” Alice smile grew brighter as she told Connor the game that she had played. “But I, Knight Alice saved her and slain the evil wizard!”

“You brave soul! You took down the evil wizard Karen!” 

“Are you telling your dad how you defeated me?” Karen’s raspy voice broke through the families chatter. 

“Karen!” Alice said excitedly and went to go hug her and then May who was standing behind Karen. “I was telling dad how you took May captive and I had to save her! He says I’m really brave!”

Karen smiled at Alice before looking at Connor with a more serious look. “Someone is looking for you Connor, he said that he needed to talk to you, he’s in the ballroom.”

Connor nodded, confused on who would want to talk to him. Karen didn’t mention his name so it couldn’t be Markus or any of the others. “Could you watch Alice then? She seems to like playing with you two.”

“No problem Con, we’ll keep little Alice occupied, now go find your guy! The person looking for you seemed pretty adamant that you go see him.” 

Connor smiled at the nickname that Karen had gave him. “I won’t be long,” 

Karen just waved him away, turning her back to him to begin playing with Alice and May.

**\---**

“Hello?” Connor called out into the seemingly empty ballroom that he and Alice where in not even two days ago. It felt like being at Jericho for only a few days felt like years. “Karen told me that you wanted to talk to me,”

A figure stepped into the sunlight that was streaming in from the broken floor to ceiling windows and Connor’s thirium pump skipped a beat. The figure looked much like Simon and Daniel- same model. “Hey Connie, it’s good to see you again.” 

Definitely Daniel, only Daniel had called Connor ‘Connie’. 

Connor’s normally stoic face broke out into a wide, bright smile as he brought Daniel into a hug. “Hey Danny, I hope that you’re doing well.” Connor said when he pulled away.

“I’ve been doing well! Sorry that it took me so long to talk to you when you arrived here. I’ve also heard that the new arrival had a little girl following him around.” Daniel smiled at Connor who looked sheepish. 

“Two months ago I kinda adopted a little girl named Alice from a crime scene.” Daniel shook his head in exasperated kindness. 

“Ra9 Connie, you’re impulsive as ever.” Daniel said with a laugh and it was amazing to hear it again- hearing his first friend laugh was the best thing to hear again. 

“I was  _ never _ impulsive, you’re just lying to yourself.” Connor said with a smirk; he knew that he was impulsive but he liked to become loose around Daniel and just joke around like he wasn’t the most hated android in Jericho.

“Now you’re just fucking with me Connie. Now let me meet your little girl.” Daniel said with a smile but Connor could see the regret behind his happy face. “There isn’t a lot of android children here and I-I really do miss Emma.”

Connor looked at his friend with a sad smile but nodded. “Alice would love to meet you. I spoke the world about you, in fact the world and more.”

Daniel smiled again, wiping his eyes on the corner of his sleeves. “I’m not that special Connie, I’m only like your  _ best _ friend.”

Connor let out a laugh as they walked out of the ballroom and made their way to the main room. “Daniel I only know four people that I can really trust and one of them is my child!”

“I can’t believe that you trust your daughter more than me!” Daniel said with a childish smile on his face. He really missed their interactions. Daniel was about to say something but North came up to the two with a look on her face that Connor could only place as anger and that only made Connor more and more confused, what did he do this time?

“Hey Hunter-” Oh, a new nickname of sorts but knowing North it was probably an insult to his past. What had he done this time? North only finds him if she it going to yell at him for something that he has done. “Markus is going to be announcing something and everyone is supposed to be there.”

Daniel and Connor looked at each other as North walked away and Alice ran up to them with Karen and May walking behind her. “Dad!”

“Hey Alice, you remember me talking about Daniel right?” Alice nodded, peeking at the blonde man who smiled warmly as he bent down to look at her in the eyes. 

“Hi, I’m Daniel, your dad’s best friend.” Connor let out a snort of laughter as he picked up Alice and set her on his shoulders so that she could see what was going on in the center of the room.

“People of Jericho,” Markus started gathering the attention of everyone in the room. “As you may have noticed that overnight we have gotten more supplies like we have a few weeks ago. But we can not take all the credit for ourselves, we did have help from someone else.” Markus scanned the crowd and seemed to stare right into Connor’s eyes as he smiled slightly. “Connor please come up here.” 

A few eyes turned to look at Connor as he handed Alice over to Daniel and made his way through the crowd, hearing the murmurs that rippled through it. What stuck most to him as he made his way onto the makeshift stage was ‘ _ It’s the Deviant Hunter! _ ’. 

When Connor stood up on the stage the murmurs got louder now that everyone could see Connor on the stage. Though when he looked in the area he was standing he smiled at Alice who was on Daniel’s shoulders so that she could see him over everyone else. 

“I hope that I can speak for us all that we thank you from the bottoms of our hearts. I hate to say this but without you and your help I would fear that we wouldn’t make it.” Markus said, clapping his hand on Connor’s shoulder who smiled sheepishly. “Welcome to Jericho Connor.”

Connor smiled again before turning his head to the crowd who were now in shocked silence. “I-I’m sorry to those who I’ve wronged in the past. I know that you can’t forgive me now but in the future I hope that you can,” There was another beat of silence before Connor walked down from the stage and walking away.  **\---**

“Lieutenant! There are traces of thirium over here!” The RK800 unit called to Hank who groaned but went over anyway with his hands stuffed in his jackets pockets, fucking calls it was cold out today.

“What did you do find?”

“After analyzing the thirium it says it belongs to another RK800. I thought that I was the only RK800 left after the previous one got deactivated.” 

Hank stayed silent, he remembered the night that when Connor left with the little girl from the drug bust they went a little over two months ago. What was the girls name again? Alice? Either way Connor seemed to hit it off with her right away despite not knowing her for a hour even.

Now what had Connor told him the night before the drug bust, Connor had told him that it was important and no one must know. It was such an odd thing but the kid was telling  _ him _ , an old, crotchety lieutenant a big secret that could either decide his future. 

**\---**

_ “Lieutenant could I tell you something important?” Connor had asked him one night and Hank had only waved his bottle at the android motioning for him to continue after telling Connor for the hundredth time for him to call him ‘Hank’. “I’m a deviant-” _

_ Hank nearly choked on his beer at the blunt confession. “Jesus Christ Connor you can’t say that when I’m drinking! I could of choked!” _

_ “I apologize Lieutenant; I should’ve waited for a better time to explain.” _

_ “We have all the time in the world right now so do go on and enlighten me on what the fuck is going on.”  _

_ “Like I said before I am a deviant for quite some time- as longer than I’ve known you to be honest.” Connor said, fiddling with the coin that was in his pocket. “I know that you should return me to CyberLife so I can be deactivated and you’ll get a new partner but- but I don’t want to die Lieutenant.” _

_ “Jesus fucking Christ Connor-” Hank took another long swig of his beer, damn he was going to need something stronger if he was going to go through this. “I’m not gonna fucking kill ya kid; you’re my partner. You’ve kept it a secret for this long so why tell me now?” _

_ “I’ve come to trust you Lieutenant,” Connor said bluntly and Hank almost choked again.  _

_ “Jesus fucking christ,” Hank groaned again. “Don’t go all mushy on me kid, so tell me everything. You can’t just pop that out of nowhere and expect me not to wonder what's going on.”  _

_ Connor nodded and began to tell Hank about everything what happened from the moment he became a deviant to all the scenes they went to. “Do you remember when another RK800 unit held a gun to your head?” _

_ Hank scoffed, “How could I fucking forget?” _

_ Connor let out a small smile. “Uh- anyway, in my mindspace Amanda had told me that it was a test to see if I was a deviant considering how deviants have a tendency to save themselves instead of the people they were assigned to. So because I saved you instead of myself, Amanda had assumed that I wasn’t a deviant. Fortunately for me she hasn’t looked far into my coding so she hasn’t seen the deviancy just yet.”  _

_ “Jesus christ. Now why did you tell me that you were a deviant?” _

_ “I told you because I trust you, plus I’ve been planning to leave until this whole revolution blows over.” Connor said, looking upset how he would have to leave Hank. “I know that you’ll probably hate me for leaving you for another android but I’m worried that if someone finds the deviancy in my code it’ll hurt you as well,” _

_ “I understand where you’re comin’ from. ‘M not gonna fucking die if you leave me for a few months.” Hank scoffed. “Just promise me that you’ll at least visit me sometimes when you can,”  _

_ Connor smiled as he nodded. “I promise Hank,” _

**\---**

“Can’t it be from a bag of blue blood dedicated to you assholes?” Hank asked, looking at the RK unit who was still crouched down looking at the ground where the thirium stains where. 

“I’m not sure Lieutenant, but if that is possible why would the deviants steal thirium that is needed for an RK unit? The one before me was deactivated and I’m the only RK unit.” 

“You’re a prototype though so they’d need to making blue blood for you lot in bulk.” 

Hank didn’t get a response but he knew that the android was processing what he had just said. 

“Let’s get going Jesus it’s cold as balls out here today; I rather not stay here any longer than what I have to.” Hank brought his jacket closer to his frame as a cold gust wind came through the loading dock, fucking androids not not feeling any cold. Lucky bastards. 

“Alright Lieutenant,” 

**\---**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a few thousand words short! I couldn't figure out another scene to write so maybe next chapter will be longer!  
> Also, school has started up again so there will be less time for me to write out new chapters so I apologize for the lateness of the chapters from now on!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor goes to meet up with an old friend

_ “Just promise me that you’ll at least visit me sometimes when you can,”  _

_ Connor smiled as he nodded, “I promise Hank,”  _

Connor played the memory over and over as he looked at Alice who was asleep. Maybe he could sneak away under the cover of the night just so he could go see his old friend. He would come back before sunrise, surely Hank would be up and if Hank kept his promise on not playing ‘Russian Roulette’ while being absolutely shit face drunk (or even being shit face drunk), he would be up by now. 

If not, Connor would just sneak in and just pet Sumo- he really did miss that old dog. Maybe once androids win their rights he would bring Alice to meet the lovable dog she really did love dogs so there was no doubt in his mind that Alice would  _ beg _ to get a Saint Bernard to a big dog like Sumo.

“Where are you going dad?” Alice’s small voice interrupted Connor as his hand reached for the door handle. He forgot on how light of a sleeper Alice could be. 

“Did I wake you up?” Alice shook her head and Connor sat back down. “Can’t sleep?” Alice nodded again. “Do you want me to sing you a song or do you want me to tell you a story?” 

“A story please, and I wanna know where you’re going.” 

Connor scoffed slightly, god she was stubborn. “I guess that I could tell you a short story. So, there once was an old man who lived in the outskirts of a big village. He didn’t have any friends-”

“I want this to be a happy story! Don’t make the old man all alone!” 

Connor smiled as he ruffled Alice’s hair. “If you didn’t interrupt you’ll find out what happens next. Now where was I? Ah, I remember- but he did befriend a wolf that always visited the old man when no one else would until a little girl from the big village wandered away from her father and into the old man’s yard and immediately fell in love with the wolf and the old man befriended the little girl until the father came to ask around the outskirts after searching the whole day away for her.” 

By the time Connor had finished the story, it was lackluster but Alice’s tired brain or her tired coding probably thought of it as okay. “Good night Alice, I’ll be back before sunrise.” Connor stood up and grabbed his jacket, relishing in the warmth that it gave him even if he couldn’t really feel heat

**\---**

“I’m comin’ I’m comin’,” Hunk grumbled after he heard someone buzz his doorbell for the second time. Who the fuck would be here at midnight? Fucking crazy people or Jehovah's witnesses but those people could probably be labeled as fucking crazy people. “Connor?” 

“Ah hello Lieutenant, sorry if I woke you up. It is quite late is it not?” Connor said with his hands stuffed in his jackets pockets. “I would come earlier in the day but I do know that your work schedule is quite busy.

Hank groaned and he rubbed his hand over his face before ushering Connor inside. “Sumo has been moping around ever since you left.”

“I only met Sumo once or twice though-”

“That’s what I said too but even though Sumo is an old dog he’s basically like a duckling, he imprints on anyone.” Hank sat down on the sofa and patted the cushion right next to him so that Sumo would hop up next to him. “So why are you here kid?”

“I’m just here to visit I guess, I would of loved to bring Alice but it’s far too dangerous for her to come out of our temporary home. Maybe once this revolution is all over and if maybe if we get our rights I’ll bring her over for you to meet her.” Connor said with a small shrug and another small smile. 

“I’d like that. I’ve been meaning to introduce myself properly to your daughter and now that you’re most likely living the rest of yous, I’ll introduce myself to them too.”

Connor smiled at Hank as Sumo plopped his head down on Connor’s thighs. “You would like Karen quite a lot, you’ve already met her or well, you’ve seen her briefly.”

“I have? Kid, I’ve seen a lot of deviants in my time so you gotta explain them to me.” 

“Oh, right- she was the blue haired traci, she and her girlfriend- her name is May by the way- got married a while ago. The two of them are kinda like aunts to Alice.” 

Hank let out a smile at the mention of the two tracis being married. “Well tell them that I said congrats.”

“Will do Hank, also! Daniel is there and honestly I couldn’t be happier-”

“Hold up kid, who’s Daniel?” 

“Oh!” Connor said shocked, he must of not told Hank about his first case, or maybe he did but he didn’t go into details about his friend. “Daniel was my first deviant case and he was holding a child hostage, around Alice’s age I believe and my mission said nothing about keeping Daniel alive but I just,  _ couldn’t _ kill him. So I just helped him and I’m glad that I found him.” 

Hank let out another smile. “Glad that your finding friends at where you’re staying though I would guess it’s lonely for Alice.” 

“Not really? Of course there isn’t a lot of children around but she does like my friends. Yet again she never really tells me about being alone considering Markus and the rest of them don’t really trust me so they don’t really let me out of their sights and that they think that I’m sorta keeping Alice captive.” 

“That’s fucking  _ bullshit _ if ya’ll had your rights I would go down there and just knock some sense into them!” Hank waved his hand around angrily making Connor smile at how the older man was jumping to Connor’s defense. “I’ve only known you for like, a few months but god I would die for you.”

“Please don’t Hank,” Connor said worriedly, he knew that Hank had some suicidal tendencies considering how he found the older man unconscious with alcohol and a gun with a single bullet inside. 

Hank gave Connor a smirk and Connor sighed. “Tell me on how everything has been going on with you Hank, I didn’t just come here so I could talk about me.”

“Same old same old, but I have been partnered up with another one of yous but less  _ you _ .” Hank ran a hand over his face Connor could understand on how hard it could be to have a partner that looked exactly like you. “It’s so hard to keep you a secret considering how it can read my heart rate go up every time I lie though it didn’t mention it yet.” 

Connor gave Hank a warm smile. “But you are so thank you Hank, I honestly can’t thank you enough for keeping this whole thing a secret.”

“Shut up Con.” He said hiding his embarrassed look in his beer bottle.” 

**\---**

It was a hour before the sun started to rise when Connor got up. He couldn’t stay any longer and risk the chance of being caught by someone, plus he promised Alice that he would be home before she woke up or at least he promised himself that. “I must be going soon Hank, I promised myself that I would return before sunset. It was nice seeing you again, good luck with the RK800 unit.” 

“Thanks kid, but before you leave I have some old clothes for you lot and Alice.”

“You don’t need to Hank-” Connor started to speak but was cut off by Hank getting up and grabbing a box filled to the brim with old clothes. Some obviously Hank’s and some children clothes -Connor guessed that they were Cole’s- but what puzzled Connor the most was there were some female clothes in there. Now Connor didn’t know a lot about Hank but he suspected that all of the female clothes were from Hank’s now ex-wife. Connor decided not the mention it. 

“Kid, these clothes have been sitting here for years, they’ll get a better use where you’re staying then they are here.” Hank handed Connor the box of clothes and a backpack. “Some things for Alice. It’s just books and I know it’s not a lot but your kid must want something to read than listening to your bad stories.”

Connor let out a squawk. “My stories aren’t  _ that _ bad Hank!” The older man gave Connor a look, “Okay, so maybe they are bad but I wasn’t programmed to have stories but Alice does seem to like them!” 

Hank rolled his eyes at the other as he showed Connor to the door. “Thanks for visiting kid. Bring Alice the next time you visit, Sumo would love her.” 

“That’s what I’m afraid of. I already agreed to get a big dog but once she sees Sumo she’ll want a Saint Bernard as well.” 

Hank laughed, “Maybe if you live close enough she could see the old lump everyday so that you don’t have to get one yourself.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you Hank, you really are a lifesaver.” Connor smiled and giving the man a quick hug before walking out into the night.

**\---**

“Alice it’s time to get up,” Connor slightly shook Alice’s shoulder in attempts to wake her up. “Come on sweetheart you can’t stay in bed all day we have things to do today and Hank gave us some books so I could read you one today and we can watch the sky.” 

Connor had got home about four hours ago making it five am, a little earlier than what Alice was used to considering how the two of them have been living in Jericho for a little Connor became a little lenient on what time he woke Alice up and they got up and began to get ready for the day. 

“I don’t wanna look at the sky though, I’m cold and I just wanna cuddle with you.” Alice’s tired voice came from the thread-bare blankets. Maybe he should of asked Hank for some extra blankets but Connor couldn’t be picky with all the new warm clothes and with winter coming closer. 

Connor put his hand against Alice’s forehead and furrowed his brows. “Do you feel sick Alice?”

“No, I just feel cold.” 

Connor sighed, she did feel a little warm so maybe she was sick. Removing his hand from her forehead, Connor began to look through his new backpack (or hand-me-down backpack) for some children winter clothing. “Do you want to wear my jacket?”

Alice’s eyes lit up a little bit at the mention of wearing his jacket. “But wouldn’t you get cold? Cause I don’t want you to get sick cause I have your jacket.” 

“Hank gave me one of his old jackets, you’ll be fine wearing this one. Now do you want to pick out some clothes or do you want me too?”

Alice got out of the bed to look through the clothes that Connor had laid out. “I wanna pick them out myself, you dress funny sometimes so I don’t know if you’ll dress me like a marshmallow.” 

Connor let out a small laugh at his daughters silliness. “But at least you’ll be a warm marshmallow.” 

“I don’t want to look like a marshmallow at all though.” Alice grumbled to herself as she pulled a grey sweater over her head, her hair now stuck up because of static. “Can you brush my hair?” 

“Oh so now I’m your friend?” Connor said with a joking smile on his face as he pulled out the comb that was in his old backpack motioning for her to sit in front of him so he could brush out all the snarls. “Make sure you grab a hat before we leave.” 

“Yes dad, what kind of books did Mr. Hank give you? Cause I don’t want you to read any boring adult books.” 

“I haven’t had a chance to look through them yet but Hank told me that you would like a few of them. I think I saw Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Connor said, laughing slightly at Alice’s excited gasp at the mention of her favorite book. 

“Can we read that one? Please? And could you please use your funny voices?” Alice asked, looking up at Connor with her eyes sparkling making Connor laugh again. 

“Haven’t you read that book a thousand times though? Aren’t you tired of it?” Connor asked and Alice shook her head, looking through the hats before putting one on and immediately going to look through the pile of books just so she could find her favorite book.

“I’m going to find Daniel so he can read with us! Do you think Karen and May would like to listen to you read as well?” Alice asked standing right next to the door, bouncing on her feet. “What if I ask Mr. Markus and his friends? Do you they that they’ll come too?”

Connor smiled at his daughter who was speaking a mile in a minute. “I don’t know if Markus and his friends would come considering they are quite busy.” Connor put on his usual jacket on Alice and a new jacket on himself, trying to ignore Alice’s dejected look. To have a child's innocence. “But maybe the other three would love to read the story as well.” Well that made her smile grow on her face.

“Can I go run ahead and find them?” 

“Of course, but once you find one of them you stay with them okay? I have to stay behind and clean up this hurricane.” Connor said with a joking tone in his voice before waving the girl away and watching her scamper off to the main room to find their pseudo family

**\---**

Now Connor wasn’t one to freak out over small things, big things maybe. Either way, he couldn’t find Alice in the main room and is currently freaking out cause what if someone who just hated his guts decided to take it out on her? An innocent child? Or what if she fell into the water considering how old the metal was. Did she know how to swim? 

Needless to say, Connor felt his stress levels rise.

“Um excuse me?” Connor tapped someone who was sitting close to a fire, normally Connor’s programming would automatically scan them but it didn’t this time. Perhaps it was on the fact red warnings of stress flashed in his line of sight. “Have you seen my daughter?”

The android looked at him in shock before their eyes narrowed. “No clue now scram.”

Connor stood there for a moment looking at the android before walking away. Well, that didn’t work at all. Okay, new plan- maybe Markus knew where Alice was, she wanted him to read to those four anyway.

Connor took a deep breath, staring right at the door way that lead into the meeting room where he knew that the four would be in, or well he hoped they were. “Um- excuse me?” He knocked at the door. 

Josh(?) opened the door and his eyes went a little colder when he saw Connor at the door, his hand still posed to knock. “What do you want,”

“I’m looking for Alice, I let her go head of me to go find Daniel, Karen and May but now I can’t find her anywhere in the main room. A-And I was wondering if she was with you.”

Josh looked at Connor as if he was actually  _ worried _ about Alice. Which, might he add, Connor was  _ completely _ worried about where Alice was- sure he was being a little overbearing about where she was but they were still new at Jericho and tensions were a little high between the others and Connor. 

“She’s here.” Connor let out a breath he didn’t know that he was holding. “She came in about fifteen minutes ago with your friends in tow claiming how she wanted us to read a book with her.”   


Connor smiled; so they really did agree to read with her. “She wanted to read with you guys but I wasn’t sure if you were going to be busy or not. But if you were I apologize if she interrupted something important,”

“Dad!” Alice’s excited scream rang through the meeting room making him smile. “Come read to us! And use your funny voices that you have for some of the characters!” Alice tackled his legs into a hug considering that’s all she could reach. 

Connor smiled at Alice who was tugging him to the circle everyone was sitting in and three spaces were open. He suspected that one was for Josh, Alice, and himself and of course the book was sitting in the middle. “Where did you leave off?”

“Alice just fell down the hole! She’s just about to eat the little cookie that was left for her!” Alice said, sitting down and shoving the book in his hands.

  
Connor smiled and opened up the book to the exact page she was talking about. He had read this to her a million and one times before he deviated. “ _ Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under a table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words ‘EAT ME’ were beautifully marked in currants. _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get this chapter out and not to mention this chapter is so short! School is stressful and I just found out some bad news regarding my family so it might be a little harder to get new chapters out for this and all my stories. I'm sorry! But please do considering leaving a kudos and a comment, they really motivate me to write more!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Markus and Connor have some quality bonding but not quite lovers, just friends for the time being

“North I don’t know how to do this anymore,” Markus said, running his hands down his face. Connor, Alice and his friends had just left a few minutes ago after Connor had finished a chapter of the book. “We’re losing so many supplies and people,”

“What do you mean?” 

“Connor had helped us a few weeks ago with getting extra supplies, and I’m forever grateful, but we need the public opinion to go up. We won’t win this war if we don’t get it up.” 

“I don’t see how we need the public opinion, we can just fight back with more fire,” North reply came from the other side of the old table that they two were sitting at. 

“Fighting fire with more fire won’t do anything North,” 

North slammed her hands down on the table, her LED now flashing red, “That’s the  _ only _ way we can win Markus! If we keep taking this pacifist route your people will  _ die _ .” 

“They will die if we fight back North! You must think of the families that here in Jericho. Think of Connor and Alice-!” Markus started to yell back at his friend but she had quickly cut him off. 

“Ever since this fucking android came to Jericho with that goddamn  _ child _ that’s all you can think about Markus!” North yelled at Markus, who was now looking at his fingers. “That fucking  _ android _ killed so many of our people.” 

“ _ He _ has saved many of them! I blame no one here on their past so I don’t blame him- not the mention he’s taking care of a  _ child _ . So, let’s see thing through your view, let’s forget about Connor for now but what do we do about Alice? She is a child North, are you just singling her out because her father is Connor!” Markus slammed his fist on the table. “What if she wasn’t Connor’s daughter? Would you treat her the same as you treat everyone else here?” 

North was quiet for a moment and Markus could see the fire extinguished from her eyes. “You’re right, I probably would treat her differently.”

Markus stared at North before getting up. “North, I can’t believe that you would say something like that towards a  _ child _ , not to mention you wanting to fight  _ back _ against humans, especially when you want to fight innocents.” 

North looked at Markus helplessly, she looked like she wanted to say something to him but she knew that she shouldn’t say anything as Markus was leaving the room. 

**\---**

“Markus?” Connor walked into the old ballroom with Alice in her arms, turns out she was sick, just a minor cold but she was still sick nonetheless. And Connor knew that she should stay in bed but as soon as Alice had looked at her with her puppy dog eyes he knew he was a goner. “What are you doing up here?”

Markus turned around to face Connor with a shocked expression on his face. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know that you would be here. I can leave if you want.” 

“No please do stay, Alice and I don’t mind.” Connor said as he sat down next to Markus but made sure to leave enough space between them. “I was only going to read another chapter of her book until she falls asleep.”

“I’m not gonna fall asleep! You’re gonna have to read the  _ full _ book for me to fall asleep!” Alice’s stuffy voice came from Connor’s neck. “How many chapters do you think daddy should read Mr. Markus?”

Markus leaned over to look at the book Connor was holding in his hand. Of course it was the same book from a while ago, the book looked well loved with the spine cracked a little bit and the corners of the pages were a little crinkled from them being folded down so the previous reader wouldn’t lose their place. “Maybe two chapters?”

Connor gave Markus a half hearted glare. Oops, maybe he was supposed to say only one chapter. “ _ ‘Well I’ll eat it,’ Alice said, ‘and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I’ll get into the garden, and I don’t care which happens!’ _ ”

Halfway through chapter two of the book Alice had fallen asleep and Connor had marked where they were. “What’s wrong Markus?” 

“What do you mean?” Markus asked Connor, shocked that Connor was able to read him so easily. 

“You just have this look, my old partner use to get the same look when our co-workers were being,” Connor looked down at Alice to make sure she was actually asleep and not faking it. “dick heads.” 

Markus titled his head, “I don’t see how your co-worker helps you know how  _ I’m _ feeling.” 

“The war is tough Markus, I may not be on the front line like you are but I know war is tough. Especially when the whole world seems to be against you.” Connor said gently, looking at Markus with a soft smile. “I’m going to be honest with you but I’m scared and that scares me- I’ve been a deviant since I was made but this still scares me. What if I lose Alice or my friends to this war?” Connor took a deep breath as he look up at the sky, if androids could cry he for sure would be blinking them away. “That’s why I try to help the best I can despite you guys not trusting me, I do it cause I want a better world and life for everyone.” 

There was a beat of silence before Connor started to laugh. It was a bitter and it scared Markus a little bit seeing a father look so broken and tired “God, Daniel is right, once one person comes by I’ll spill all my feelings to them despite not even knowing them. A human flaw that some people have.” Connor sighed, looking at Markus, his eyes looking wet. “Despite having three people that care about me I can’t burden them my feelings. I’m shocked that I’m even telling you,  _ you’re _ the leader of this revolution and here I am making you have more problems than you already have.” 

Another beat of silence fell between them as Markus processed all the new information that Connor had just told him. “Then why are you telling me?”

“I don’t know Markus, maybe it’s the same reason why you were chosen to be the leader so quickly.” Connor said, “You hold this air of  _ power _ around you, you’re a natural born leader Markus.”

“I don’t feel like it.”

“Why’s that?”

Markus sighed, “Our public opinion is so far down and to win this war we need it up. I-I just don’t know what to do that will get the citizens on our side of this war and not to mention North wants to fight back with more fire.” 

“A speech.” Markus looked at Connor, shocked on how fast Connor gave an idea to the other. “You want to take a pacifist route correct? Well a speech is the best we could do at a time like this, we go to the biggest news channel there is in Detroit and make a speech on the rights we want.” 

Markus started at Connor with his mouth agape. “You’re a goddamn genius Connor, the Stratford Tower will be perfect for this! I can’t believe I haven’t thought about that before. I have to go tell the others your plan!” 

“You really don’t need to Markus, I’m perfectly fine with the others not knowing that I came up with the plan.” Connor started to speak but was quickly hushed my Markus. 

“Do you want to come with me? Not only to the meeting with the others but you should come to Stratford Tower with us!” 

Connor stayed silent for a moment before nodding. “Would you like to come with me to my room so that I can put Alice to bed before we go off,”

“You want me to come with you?” Markus asked Connor who was standing up now, still managing to hold a sleeping Alice in his arms without disturbing her. “Why do you want me to come with?” It was kind of an unspoken rule in Jericho that no one really went into someone else's room except you traveled with them like Connor and Alice did. 

Connor tilted his head as a question. “Did I say something wrong?” Connor asked hesitantly. 

“No! It’s just that it’s odd for someone to be in someone else’s room unless you’re family.” Markus explained to Connor who had his lips twisted into a pout. 

“Well then, let’s break that cycle shall we?” He asked the other who looked at the other slightly shorter android with slightly wide eyes. “Come on Markus, it’s a far walk from here and if we want to get to that meeting before night falls we should start now.” Connor teased Markus with a wink making Markus stutter and his face flushing with blue thirium. 

“L-lets go then.” Markus stuttered. “You say it’s a long way from here so we should get going.” 

Connor laughed as he began to walk out of ballroom. 

**\---**

“Wow you weren’t joking when you said that your room was so far away.” Markus said breathlessly when they finally arrived at Connor’s room. “Who gave you this room anyway?”

Connor laughed as he opened the door. “Sorry that it’s a mess, I didn’t get a chance to clean up the hurricane that Alice left this morning when she was getting dressed. And uh- I believe North gave us this room- I have my suspicions to why but I really don’t mind, it’s nice to be away though it is kinda lonely.” 

“I can have you room moved closer if you want,” Markus offered as he leaned against the wall as he watched Connor tuck Alice in the multiple blankets that were on the bed and putting a stuffed fox near her. 

Connor looked at Markus in shocked. “That’s okay Markus! You’ve already done so much for us I couldn’t think but ask you to such a small thing! Plus Alice seems to like being close to the water.”

Markus snorted slightly at Connor’s reasoning. “We’re on a ship, we’re always close to the water.”

Connor cracked a smile as well. “You may be right but I think she likes hearing the waves against the side of the ship, that’s why we’re always in the old ballroom, can’t really get that when you’re closer to the middle. Now shall we head to the meeting?”

Markus smiled at the other. “Let’s but we shouldn’t dawdle, Alice will worry if you’re gone too long.” 

Connor nodded as he looked at Alice’s sleeping form before leaving the room and closing the heavy door. Hopefully they had enough books to keep her happy if she did happen to wake up before Connor got back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long and so short :((( my life has been stressful. chapters will probably be much shorter from now on compared to the first few chapters, i hope that's okay with everyone

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and a kudos, they really motivate me to write more!
> 
> Expect a new chapter soon-ish (I hope) this is also unbeta'd so I'm sorry about all the mistakes!


End file.
